Abundance and Harvest – Still in the Garden

Deep into the days of summer, I'm sharing a post that I wrote last year for my church's website.  With an early spring snow, this year's garden is behind schedule, but what a treasure it was to discover hearty, red-veined beet leaves during a just-before-dusk weeding session last night . . . Once the dew… Continue reading Abundance and Harvest – Still in the Garden

Parenting Past the Mid-Point: More Thoughts from the Garden

“These bean plants are a mess,” I muttered.  “But, wow . . . lots of beans.” Our eleven rows of Providers (that’s the variety of green bean we always plant) had lived up to their name, but after four pickings, the plants looked tired, ransacked, plundered. They looked like us. I smile when I say… Continue reading Parenting Past the Mid-Point: More Thoughts from the Garden

A Prayer from the Cave

The epigraph for Psalm 142 reads:  “A contemplation of David.  A prayer when he was in the cave.” How wonderful that David knew God could hear him from his gloomy hiding place.  These thoughts, shared today, were written during the summer of 2014, at the beginning of my mum’s precipitous decline, and from my season… Continue reading A Prayer from the Cave

Veering into the Serene Providence

Knocking twenty-two years’ worth of dust off a resume stretches the definition of “creative writing” to its limit. After giving my time away for two decades, can I convince even myself that my skills are marketable? Am I still capable of holding my own in the workforce? The questions hang in the air like a… Continue reading Veering into the Serene Providence

One Metaphor Is Not Enough

Furrowing my brow, straining for clarity, I peered into young faces and saw what I'd been hoping for -- understanding! My assignment this week?  Teach five of Jesus' "I Am" statements, mind-blowing truth about a God with skin on who used words to explain His purpose and His power in a monumental leap from the… Continue reading One Metaphor Is Not Enough

Finding the Way Forward

My faith unraveled at a Christian college. I know that’s not the way it’s supposed to happen, and I can remember wishing that a hostile, atheistic professor had bludgeoned me into my doubts with brilliantly irrefutable arguments. It would make for a much better story. Instead, the truth is I just got numb. The constant… Continue reading Finding the Way Forward